Several more or less formal discussion groups meet regularly on the UMBC campus to discuss topics of teaching and learning. The FDC provides support to these groups as needed. Contact the FDC for further information. These groups include the:
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Group,
- Team-Based Learning (TBL) Group,
- Biology Teaching Circle,
- Mathematics and Statistics Teaching Circle, and
- Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication (MLLI) Teaching Circle.
Book Discussion Groups
The FDC sponsors book discussion groups based on recently published books on a topic related to teaching and learning. Faculty who register to attend the book discussion group receive a copy of the book compliments of the FDC or access to the ebook compliments of the AOK library. Watch our home page for announcements of upcoming book discussion groups. Past books have included:
- SoTL Research Methodologies: A Guide to Conceptualizing and Conducting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Yeo et al., 2024). [Chapters 1 & 2]
- Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (Miller, 2022). [Chapter 5]
- A Guide to Curriculum Mapping: Creating a Collaborative, Transformative, and Learner-Centered Curriculum (Harrison & Williams, 2024)
- Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom (Eaton et al., 2023). [Chapter 4]
- Critical Teaching Behaviors: Defining, Documenting, and Discussing Good Teaching (Barbeau & Cornejo Happel, 2023). [Introduction & Chapter 10]
- What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching (Addy et al., 2021). [Chapters 2, 5 & 6]
- Reflection and the College Teacher: A Solution for Higher Education (Wlodarsky, 2013). [Chapters 2 & 4]
- How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen, and Audio (Baron, 2021)
- Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, 3rd Ed. (Bean & Melzer, 2021). [Chapters 6, 7, 10, 13, & 14]
- Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) (Blum, 2020). [Introduction, Conclusion, and Chapters 1, 7, 8, 9, & 11]
- Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital Reading (Cohn, 2021)
- Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching (Bruff, 2019)
- Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (Darby with Lang, 2019). [Chapters 4 & 5]
- Online Teaching at its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research (Nilson & Goodson, 2017). [Chapters 3, 5, & 6]
- Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education (Schwartz, 2019)
- Creating Engaging Discussions” Strategies for “Avoiding Crickets” in Any Size Classroom and Online (Herman & Nilson, 2018)
- SoTL in Action: Illuminating Critical Moments of Practice (Chick, 2018)
- Life Beyond Grades: Designing College Courses to Promote Intrinsic Motivation (Covington et al., 2017)
- Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Social Marginalization (Verschelden, 2017)
- Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty (Talbert, 2017)
- Why Students Resist Learning: A Practical Model for Understanding and Helping Students (Tolman & Kremling, 2017)
- Teaching & Learning STEM: A Practical Guide (Felder & Brent, 2016)
- Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation (McGuire, 2015)
- Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Instruction in Undergraduate Science and Engineering (Kober, 2015)
- Teaching Undergraduate Science: A Guide to Overcoming Obstacles to Student Learning (Hodges, 2015)
- Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Steele, 2011)
- Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology (Miller, 2014)
- Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time (Nilson, 2015)
- Engaging Imagination: Helping Students Become Creative and Reflective Thinkers (James & Brookfield, 2014).
- Using Reflection and Metacognition to Improve Student Learning: Across the Disciplines, Across the Academy (Kaplan et al., 2013)
- Creating Self-Regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students’ Self-Awareness and Learning Skills (Nilson, 2013)
- Introduction to Rubrics, Second Edition, (Stevens & Levi, 2012)
- Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning (Bowen, 2012)
- Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Guide to the Process and How to Develop a Project from Start to Finish (Bishop-Clark & Dietz-Uhler, 2012)
- Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions (Brookfield, 2012)
- Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines: From Learning Theory to College Teaching (Mastascusa et al., 2011)
- Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, 2nd Ed. (Bean, 2011)
- Effective Grading, 2nd Ed. (Walvoord & Anderson, 2010)
- Teaching What You Don’t Know (Hutton, 2009)
- How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (Ambrose, 2010)